Studies (Howard 2005) have indicated that it may be very difficult to position healthier foods against traditional fast foods, by virtue of the strength of the latter's long- standing successful history of advertising. Naturally, the fact that healthy fast food cannot hope to compete with traditional fast food in terms of taste and its purported addictive quality presents another challenge that must be met by creative advertising and marketing strategies to overcome those disadvantages from the advertising perspective. Incorporating Challenges into a Marketing Plan:
Incorporating those challenges into a marketing plan requires long-term vision to anticipate the likely pattern of consumer demand over time, specifically in response to advice about health, wellness, and the relationship of diet to overall human health.
Naturally, the healthy fast food industry should emulate some of the strategies that have traditionally proven successful, particularly in the case of fast food in terms of name recognition and availability.
One advantage available to the healthy fast food industry is that instead of downplaying or minimizing the connection between its product and the detrimental consequences of fast food continually expressed by health and wellness experts, the industry can exploit those concerns through promotions designed...
This is an approach already implemented by low calorie beer manufacturers and many over the counter medications who present their products side-by-side against their competitors' products in conjunction with the appropriate message about the former.
Subway has relied, to a large extent, on promotion of its products in association with a positive health (and cosmetic) message, but as yet, has not incorporated a direct side-by-side comparison image in its marketing strategy. It may be that the optimal format for promoting the comparative benefits of healthy fast food will require advertisements that depict traditional fast foods and images of their frequent consumers next to healthy fast foods and images of their frequent consumers. With medical science, ethical values, and social concerns on our side, creating a positive marketing campaign to compete with traditional fast food should not be exceptionally difficult to implement.
References
Halbert, T., Ingulli, E. (2000) Law & Ethics in the Business Environment. Cincinnati: West Legal Studies. Howard, M. (2005) We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind. New York: The Disinformation Company
Gibbs, N, (2007) One Day in America. Time Magazine.
Nov. 26 / 07 (pp. 60-61)
